The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1887-08-19

number more or less badly injured. The
train was composed of six sleeping cars, six
day coaches and chair cars and three bag
gage cars. 1t was carrying 96O passengers,
all eXcursonists, and was bound for Mia
CARA Falls. The train had been made up all
along the line of the Toledo Peoria d West
ern road, and the eXcursiopists hailed from
various points in Central Illinois, the bulk of
them, however, coming from Peoria Some
of the passengers came from Canton, from
Ell Paso, Washington and, in fact. all sta
| tions along the line from as far west as Bur
| lington and Keokuk, Iowa. A special and
cheap rate had been made for the ex-
cursion, and all sorts of people took
advantage of it When the train
| drew out of Peoria Mt 8 o'clock last
evening, it was loaded to its utmost
capacity. Every berth in the six seepers
was taken, and the day cars carried sixty
| people each The train was so heavy that
| two engines were hitched TO it, and when it
| passed this place it was an hour and half
| behind time. ChatswOrth. the next station
| east of here. is six miles off and the run
| there was made in seven minutes, SO the ter
| rible momentum of those fifteen coaches
| and two heavy engines shooting through
space ut the rate of q mule q minute can be
understood. No stop was made at Chats
worth. and on and on the heavy train with
| its living freight sped through the darkness
of the night Three miles east of Chats
worth there is n little slough and where the
| railroad truck crosses run about ten feet
deep and fifteen feet wide. Over this was
| stretched an ordinary wooden trcstlc bridge,
and as the excursion train came laundering
down on it what was the horror of the en-
| gineer on the front engine when he saw that
this bridge was aiire! Right up before his
eyes leaped the bright flames, and the next
instant he was among them There was
| NO CHANCE TO STOP.
| Had there been warning it would have
taken half II mile to stop that onrushing
mass of wood, iron and humanity, and the
train was within one hundred yards of the
red-tongued messengers of death before
| they flashed their fatal signals into the en-
gineers face. But he passed over in safety.
the first engine keeping the rails AS it
went over the bridge fell beneath it, and it
could only have been the terrific speed of
the train which saved the lives of the en-
| ginecr and his fireman But the next en-
gine went down, and instantly the deed of
| death was done Car crashed into car;
| coaches piled one on top of the other, and in
the twinkling of an eye nearly one hundred
| people found instant death and fifty more
| were so hurt they could not live. As for the
wounded, they We're everywhere Only the
| sleeping coaches escaped, and as the startled
| and half-dressed passengers came tumblng
| out of them they found such scene of
| death as is rarely witnessed, and such work
| to do that it seemed as if human hands were
utterly incapable 1t lacked but five min
ntes OF midnight Down in the ditch lay the
second engineer. McClintock, dead, and fire.
man, Applcgate, badly injured On top were
| piled the three baggage cars, one on top of
another like n chld's toy block house after
| he had swept it with his hand. Then came
the six day coaches They were telescoped
as cars never were before, and three of them
We're pressed into just space enough for one.
The second car had mounted off its trucks,
crashed through the car ahead of it, and lay
there resting on the top of the seats, while
every passenger in the front car was laying
dead or dying underneath Out of that cal
but four people
| CAME OUT ALIVE.
On top of the second car lay the third, and
although the latter did not cover its bearer
rs completely us the one beneath It's bottom
WAS smeared with the blood of its victims.
The other cars were not SO badly crushed
but they were broken and twisted in every
conceivable way, and every crushed timber
AMI beam represented crushed human
frame and n broken bone Instantly the ali
was flied with the cries of the wounded
and the shrieks of those about to die The
groans of men, the screams of womer
united to make an appalling sound
and above all could he heard the agoniziag
cries of little children as II some-ssstancc
they lay pinned alongside their parents
And there was another terrible danger to b,
met The bridge was still burning and TIL,
wrecked cars were laying on and nrount
the tercely burning embers Everywher
in tho wreck were wounded and unhur
men, women and children whose live
could be saved if they could b.
gotten out but whose death AM
Death in a most terrible form was certain i
the twisted wood of the broken cars caugh
fire. And to fight the fire there was not
drop of water, and only some fifty able
bodied men who had still presence of min
and nerve enough to do their duty Th
only light was the light of the burnin
bridge. For four hours they fought lik
tiends, and for four hours the victory hun
e in the balance. Earth was the only weapo
3 with which the fire could be fought, and s
n the attempt was made to smother it ou
There was no pick or shovel to dig it up; n
baskets or barrows to carry it in, and sc
desperate, they dug their fingers down int
the earth, which a long drouth had bake
almost rs hard as stone, and heaped til
precious handsful thus hardly won upon tn
encroaching flames. and with this earthworl
built handful by handful
y KEPT BACK THE FOE.
While this was going on, brave men creI
: underneath the wrecked cars beneath til
fire and the wooden bars which held prison
: ers SO many precious lives, and with piece
It of board, and sometimes their hands, bci
t back the flames when they flashed up along
i: side some unfortunate wretch who, pinne
8 down by heavy beam, looked on heplessl
y; while it seemed as If his death by fire w:
II certain; and while the fight was tINs goin
= on, the ears of the workers were filled wit
q the groans of dying men. the ansuished ell
/. treaties of those whose death seemed certai
II unless the terrible blaze could be extiI
/. gushed, ana the cries of those too badl
!, hurt to care in what manner the end wei
(, brought about. SO only it would be quick. S
/" they dug up the earth with their hands, reel
. less Of the blood streaming out from broke
y finger nails, and heaped it upon little mound
10 while all the while came the heartrendin
>. cry, "For Gods sake don't let us burn
| death But nnally victory was won, the IL
8, was put out after four hours Of endeavo
l. and as It's last spark died away light can
a, up in the east to take their place, and daw
IS came upon scene of horror While the tigl
had been going on men had been diving, al
l. there We're not SO many wounded to take Of
i of the wreck as there had been four hours b
:" fore. Butin the meantime the country ht
n been aroused help had come from Chat
4, worth, Forest and Piper City, and as Il
A. dead were laid reyerenly alongside of eat
" other, out In the corn field, there were reat
A. hands to take them into Chatsworth, viii
I'd some of the wounded were carried to Pip
l.. City One hundred and eighteen was the
AWFUL POLL OF THE DEAD,
d, while the wounded number four times
e. many. The full tale OF the dead cannc
however, be told yet for days Chatswor